Evolution
by ReadingFix
Summary: Omegaverse story. Lana is on the run whilst trying to piece together exactly what happened in the Before time, all whilst trying to avoid what modern society has become. She is an omega and will stop at nothing to hide herself from Alphas. But one alpha knows she is his destiny, amd will stop at nothing to find her. Original work! #omegaverse
1. Chapter 1

It had started with whispers. Exchanged gossip overheard by the higher-up's wives over brunch, a gathering of anxious parents at the school gate as the whispers trickled down from the ever-listening ears of servants. Then people started going missing, more reports creeping onto the evening news, flyers littering the streets a constant reminder all was not well. A few weeks later the testing began. With little warning apart from a few news reports, hordes of soldiers swarmed schools, blood samples forcefully taken from children as young as 4, university campuses transformed into walking med centres.

Outrage sparked violent protests, which acted as a smokescreen for the other increase in violent crime, the violent kidnappings of both men and women, the increase in gang prevalence and the increase in hospital patients suffering fever and severe abdominal pain, the increase of domestic abuse. Curfew was put in place, schools segregated into Male and Female in order to stop the violence that seemed to suffuse the very air, that seeped into every corner of society.

The protests stopped abruptly once the broadcasts began. The violence paused in an unnatural way. The streets became bare, the only faces to be seen were those on the old missing posters that stared out from lampposts with haunted eyes. No one missed the first broadcast that occupied every screen in the country and linked together the snippets of truth that the abundance of rumours held.

The day the broadcasts began, was the day everything changed. The day the broadcasts began, was the day that Evolution started again. The day the broadcasts began was the day a whole nations fate was sealed.

* * *

Lana listened with a rapt intensity as she finished listening to her grandmother speak of the before time. Nothing had changed about that; the one constant of her life was that she always ALWAYS wanted to learn more about what had happened. About why from a little girl she had been shunted from place to place, with a new hairstyle every few weeks. About why they'd had to leave her mother behind. She sighed and stood, kissing her grandmother's cheek as she left the room. Maybe it was best not to dwell on the past, her life was as it was, and hiding was her life.

Dreaming of a past where she would have been at university by now, of where she would have had scars on her knees from falling off a bike instead of being hunted down by dogs, would not help her situation. She snorted at that thought, as she walked along the narrow corridor to her own room. Dogs, I wish it were dogs that hunted me down, multiple bite marks were better than that one dreaded claiming bite.

Her fingers automatically traced the curve of her neck where her shoulder joined, feeling the goose bumps that had formed on her skin at the thought of sharp teeth tearing into her tender flesh during a heat.

She had been 14 at the time and had been out fetching supplies. Technically it was less fetching and more sneaking as she had slipped off to get a cake for her grandmother, to celebrate her 65th birthday. All was fine getting to the store. It was even fine inside the store; the manager didn't look twice at the girl in the scruffy chuck tailors and the knee length summer dress. It was fine exiting the store; one of the guys hanging about outside, as teenage boys are bound to do, even held the door for her so she could carry the cake out with ease. She was in the carpark of the store, a summer breeze brushing against her bare legs, her smile broad from carrying the chocolate cake she had bought and thinking how happy her grandma would be when things suddenly became the opposite of fine. She'd just finished walking past the group of youths when the fever had started, and every eye from the group had zeroed in on her retreating back.

She'd stumbled not knowing what had caused the sudden sweating in her palms or on the back of her neck when the first cramp kicked in, her thighs suddenly becoming sticky. She continued walking quickly forward on wobbly legs, towards the highway she'd heard the first growl and the smack of a fist hitting flesh. She'd dropped the cake from suddenly numb hands and started to run, vaulting the small fence and pounding along a back road.

She'd broken several rules that day. First, she'd gone alone. Second, she'd not let anyone know where she was. The third rule she broke was the worst; she'd looked behind her. Lana closed her eyes against the memory, the cake being squished into warm tarmac by the gang of males all growling, eyes dilated and focused on their target; her.

She'd tripped over when she'd seen that sight. Tripped when she'd seen the bloody shirt of the teenaged boy in the lead. Tripped at the sight of the body on the ground behind them, oozing blood onto the summer sun warmed tarmac like the cake oozed chocolate filling.

She'd scrambled back up immediately, leaving blood from her torn hands and knees and worse, drops of her slick on the pavement below her.

She got up and continued running, ignoring the pain, ignoring the moisture between her thighs. Her belly had dropped as a car had come out in front of her blocking the way and she had stumbled again her brain freezing in place. The door had opened, and her grandmother had been there, and she'd run. Her grandfather had rolled down the window and the muzzle of his gun had peaked through the window before firing. She'd heard a body drop, and a few seconds later another shot and a howl of agony. She'd dived headfirst into the car, over her grandmother's lap and the door slammed behind her. She'd glanced behind her as the car squealed away, noticing more bodies on the ground. Her grandfather had been an Alpha Male even before the Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamic has existed. A ferocious protector with a terrifying aim to match, he protected his family to the very end. The headless bodies had faded in her vision as it sought out the bloody shirted teen of its own accord. Unlike some of the others who were still chasing after the car he was hunched down, fingers trailing through her blood and the drops of her slick. He's looked up then and their eyes had collided as he'd brought his fingers to his mouth and licked her essence. She'd sworn she'd heard his growl as his gaze became heavy lidded, the spark of lust and possession in his eyes evident even as she'd been driven away.

That had been the start of her first heat. It had very nearly ended in her being claimed by one stranger, if not torn apart by the rest in a mating frenzy.

It had taken 3 days to break, and 4 weeks til her grandfather would speak to her again. She'd had 4 more heats in the past 8 years, and only because those were unavoidable. Black market heat suppressants were rare and were becoming more so now that the government was becoming stricter on their production and monitoring the omega population. She lay on her bed wrapped in her blankets to try to keep the memory of her first heat at bay. She'd suffered through every heat alone, locked away, not daring to go out to find an alpha or beta to fuck her through it.

And through every heat the blue green eyes of the teenage boy had haunted her.

She shivered and looked at the calendar on her wall. It had been almost 2 years since her last heat and next month her heat suppressors would run out.

Here she faced a quandary. With her grandfather now dead, she only had her grandmother to depend on to look after her during and after her heats. Whilst still fierce as ever in her battle to keep her granddaughter safe, at the age of 73 the toll of the struggle had started to show.

They had to move straight after each heat Lana had had; despite their best efforts there was no way to stop the scent of it suffusing into the tight spaces their homes usually consisted of. This meant it would cling onto any clothing in the vicinity and if they went out in public carrying the scent, well, their carefully concealed existence would have been for nothing.

She decided then and there that she would not move her rapidly deteriorating grandmother from the relative safety of the cabin they called Home.

She had a month to decide where she would have her next heat, and how she would care for herself during and after. Just thinking of her grandmother trying to move Lana, who would be exhausted and unable to do much but sleep and eat, and all their worldly possessions half way across the country was enough to make her stomach drop. They had been careful the previous times yes, but part of not getting caught was pure luck. And now with only 2 of them left, their luck was sure to run out soon. If her grandmother was caught moving an Omega, despite being one of the first herself, she could be publicly executed as an example.

Lana shivered again in horror and stood up from the bed, moving towards her desk. There was one folder on it that contained everything Lana needed to know about the outside world and the dangers that existed for her and her grandmother.

First was an article dated the day her grandfather had died. "Rogue Alpha shot dead in standoff, takes 6 government officials with him". She traced her fingers over the photo of her grandfather. It was grainy from a security photo, but he still looked like how she remembered. He'd been moving the last of the things out of the place she'd had her last heat in when the feds had turned up. She knew they'd have tried to take him alive, to try and find the omega who had left her scent all over the small apartment, but he had refused. He felt he had failed his daughter, but he would never fail his granddaughter. The article said he'd tried to burn the place to the ground but didn't succeed. It then continued to go on about the dangers of "hoarding omegas" and how resisting always ended in heartbreak and death. She snorted, "hoarding omegas". That was one way to call what a man who protected his wife, daughter and granddaughter from being attacked by Alphas, or taken from him to be sold for either "a mate" which consisted of being a glorified broodmare to a rich alpha, or kept by the government for study, did. There was a small section at the bottom on his life in the "before time" as her grandmother called it. He had been a horse trainer, with his own company which had stables all over the country. All of that he'd given up to protect them all. Her grandfather had loved them more than life itself, and he'd looked at his wife like the sun rose and set with her.

Lana pushed the article aside and turned around, grabbing her jacket from the floor. It was time to find a place where she could go into heat safely, privately and alone. She was her grandfather's daughter, never having known the beta who was murdered by an alpha whilst he tried to get to her in heat mother, and she would protect her grandma with her last breath.


	2. Chapter 2

Max stood letting the beta woman suck his cock, but his mind was somewhere else. His mind was on the omega he had been hunting since he first tasted her as a seventeen-year-old. He groaned, his cock swelling at the memory of tasting her, and he imagined fucking her slowly, before pulling out to taste her pussy, wet with her slick and the tiny bit of blood that was combined in it. In his head she had never been with another man. He growled at the thought and heard the whimper of the beta as he thrusted harder into her mouth. He didn't care. He had been there when they found Roloph Tyne. He had smelt the room where she had been in. The nameless omega who he'd finally had a lead on. Lana Tyne. He wanted to shout her name to the hill tops. Her heat room had smelt divine; even more so for the fact there had been no smell of a man. No Male to touch her through her heat. No male would ever touch her ever again when he found her except him. Only him. He would fuck her until she was screaming for his knot. He was so close He ground his molars and grabbed the betas hair, forcing as much of his cock down her throat as possible, shooting his cum down her throat as he imagined knotting the brunette omega who'd haunted him with her scent for years.

He pulled out, the beta gagging before smiling up at him. "Max I've never felt your cock so hard before - I can't wait to feel it in my pussy".

"Not today. Get out"

"...but"

"Now Jessica! I have business to attend to, I don't have time to fuck you."

She got off up of her knees, her smile going from seductive to a sneer in an instant.

"I hope you never find an omega of your own you selfish prick! I'm done with being your little fuck toy. You don't even fuck particularly well for an alpha!" she hissed in his face.

Max's eyes darkened, blue eye going stormy.

"Jessica, I told you to get out". If she had been a smart woman, she would have heeded his warning and left. But she wasn't, and so continued to bait him.

"I'm not your omega, I do what I want because I am not yours to control! I am not mates to you, so I don't really give a shit about your pathetic feelings! It's so sad that all you have are fuckbuddies, that you've never even properly looked at a woman – did the testing fuck with your head? I hope if you do ever find an omega she'll see you for what you are - a worthless excuse of an Alpha who doesn't deserve the title and who could never care for an omega properly!"

Max roared, is hand jerking out and grabbing her by the throat and lifting her up, carrying her by her neck and throwing her out of his apartment. She hit the corridor wall with a sickening crunch and her mouth opened in a silent scream of pain; his hand crushing her windpipe had made her incapable of sound.

"Next time you insult me or my omega, you'll end up worse. If you were my omega you wouldn't be walking for days for your insolence. Go find some other alpha to suck up to. You are a pathetic excuse for even the lowest of omegas, and you are not worth a moment longer of my time".

Max slammed the door, still shaking with rage. Lana would be his. The beta whore was wrong. He would look after his omega. She would want for nothing. She would willingly obey his every whim. He breathed looking down at the strewn clothing on the floor, picking up Rebecca's clothes, opening the door and flinging them at the still naked injured woman. He shut the door and went straight to his office. His omega would be looked after by him; and it meant his Lana would not spend another heat without her alpha.

With this thought in mind, his breathing slowed, and he brought up all the listings of the black-market heat suppressant that had been found alongside Roloph's dead body. She must be running out soon, and he had a feeling she might risk buying them again. After all, he thought leaning back in his chair staring at his wall, which was covered in snippets of movements, and facts about Roloph and his family, she only had her ageing grandmother to support her now. He knew for a fact that any omega worth their salt would not put an elderly family member in danger. It went against an omegas nature, whether she knew about her nature or no. No, his little omega would have been stepping into her grandfather's shoes. She would be looking after her grandmother, even if that meant risking her own safety.

"See you soon my Lana" he said softly, all his previous anger gone as he looked closer at the blurry photo he had on his wall. It was her, from the side on brown hair blown halfway across her face hiding her eye but her lips were clear. She was smiling looking over at the blurred forms of her grandparents. Soon that smile would be directed at him, and he would have his omega at last.


	3. Chapter 3

"Where have you been going Lana?"

Her grandmothers voice stopped her in her tracks. She turned and saw her grandmother, arms crossed on the sofa, giving her "the look". Lana shifted from foot to foot. She HATED when she got "the look" from her grandmother. The only thing worse was when she had been very little and had gotten "the look" off her mother and grandmother, for stealing cookies that were fresh from the oven and burning her mouth.

"I've been going and getting supplies Gremar."

She tried to stare at her grandmother, trying to show she'd done nothing wrong and had nothing to hide. It worked as well as it had done when she was little; it hid nothing then due to the burnt tongue her grandmother had made her stick out, and this time it hid nothing as her grandma held out a small plastic bag.

"Oh, supplies hey? They weren't of the "heat den" variety, were they? Or perhaps the black-market stall that sells these" she shook the bag of little off white pills vicariously, the last few precious tablets bouncing off one another. "For instance?"

Lana shrugged off her coat and sat down next to her grandma, leaning her head in her shoulder.

"Sorry Gremar, I just didn't want to worry you. I wanted to show you I can look after myself now, and you. I'm not the foolish teenager anymore."

Her grandmother uncrossed her arms and rugged Lana down into her lap.

"Don't you think that using my nickname will get you off the hook now" Lana could feel the smile in her grandma's voice. "You need to tell me all, I can tell it's eating you up. I promise I'll do nothing but listen, oh so ancient one". Lana smiled onto her grandmother's lap at this, loving the way her grandma had tugged playfully at her blonde ponytail on her last words.

"You're right. I have been looking for a heat den, as my next heat is only in 2 weeks, as my heat suppressors only last that long; it was the last Pops got me. I've been struggling though; I can't seem to find anywhere safe enough to lock myself up. The only possible place is Pop's brother's house, but I don't want to use that unless it's a last resort. I really don't want to have it here...not because it's not comfortable...but because I don't want you having to move. I've noticed the hip Gremar. I know it's been paining you more and more. You wouldn't be able to pack like you used to or get me out of here if needed. And it always takes a few days for me to be able to do anything after my heat."

Her ball of anxiety started to shrink as her grandmother hummed, the vibrations soothing her more than the sound. It reminded her of her grandfather's purr. When she'd had nightmares as a child, and then into her teens after her first heat, bloodied alphas chasing her through her dreams, her grandmother had read to her whilst her grandfather purred. It soothes her to the marrow of her bones knowing that he was there if she woke, his comforting sound helping to wash away her fears and replace it with all the love that her family could offer.

"So, then my little fox, you then have what you think is your last option - more heat suppressants which comes with its own risk."

Lana nodded miserably. She hated being omega, hated that as a beta she would have been starting her second degree, that instead of a cabin in a forest she would be in a city, possibly with a partner who'd hold onto her at night. How she wished she could have learnt more about science.

"Well. It's quite apparent what you need to do."

She sat up, hair a fluffy mess from her grandmothers petting.

"What? What have I missed?"

"Well, first off you should dye your roots" her grandma gave her a half grin "shocking really at the state you've left it in - the brown is showing through, no man will believe you're a natural blonde if you don't keep your roots in check". She winked, the joke of the fact that any man would even get close enough to see her hair was actually brunette not lost on Lana.

"But most importantly my foxy lady, is not to underestimate your elders!"

With a flourish her grandma brought out a plastic container that rattled full of pills.

Lana's eyes widened in shock.

"Gremar! You shouldn't, it's too dangerous!"

"You tried to outfox the original fox darling; I've been at this game we call life a lot longer than you."

"But the motion sensors..they didn't go off when I was out...how did...?"

Her grandmother gave her a droll expression.

"And who taught you to set them up hmm?"

Lana blushed, feeling stupid.

"I love you Gremar."

"I love you too little fox. Now here, you have no need to worry and take needless risks with your safety, we can stay here longer, and you'll have more time to find a Heat den."

Lana's eyes filled with tears and she threw her arms round the older omega. "Thank you Gremar, I have no clue how you do it, but thank you".

"Always my little fox, always." Her grandmother pulled her into her lap again and resumed stroking and humming. Soon Lana was asleep though her grandmother stayed awake for much longer, haunted eyes staring into nothing, almost as if she looked long and hard enough, the future might reveal its secrets.


	4. Chapter 4

Max grinned to himself. Today was a good day. His contacts on the black market had pulled through; the same pills that had been found at Lana's heat den house had been bought recently. There were only 3 suppliers in the country that sold those pills; 2 of which were made and supplied by his company.

Fortunately for him, it was one of his sellers that had recently supplied almost a years' worth of heat suppressors. This was not always unusual, the big dealers often sold them to smaller dealers who in turn sold them to frightened omegas who wanted to put off their heats. He snorted in contempt. Only omegas with pathetic Alphas, or worse, a beta mate would fear their heat.

Of course, his Lana was exempted from this; she was unknowingly saving herself for a heat with her Alpha. For he knew that she would never miss a heat with him. He purred to himself knowing that his lead was closing rapidly. Because whilst heat suppressors were sometimes sold in large quantities, they were not often sold to old ladies who were old enough to be Roloph Tyne's wife.

He picked up his phone and sent off a quick text to his driver, he wanted to leave as soon as he could. He grabbed his emergency bag that he always had packed with the essentials for several days travelling. This wasn't unusual, his role required him to often travel at a moment's notice but this time he also picked up another slightly smaller bag. This time was different. He was going to the black-market dealer who had sold the heat suppressors, and he was going to find everything he could about Shara Tyne, and the old lady would lead her to Lana. This bag had everything she could possibly need if he happened to find her. Spare clothes, soft blankets and toiletries. It also contained soft cuffs, a gag, tranquilisers and a med pack. He knew that no woman who had maintained her freedom for so long would come away easily from the life that she had lead for so many years, and he wanted to be prepared for her inevitable fight and any possible injury she may sustain. He smiled a self-satisfied smile. Yes, he would make her a good alpha, already showing her care and health were of the most importance.

Walking down the front stairs of his apartment complex he saw his driver waiting and felt a prickle of unease run up his spine. A fist flew into the side of his face and he felt his lip split on the impact. He reared backwards, momentarily stunned before getting himself into a fighting stance against his attacker. Upon seeing who it was he dropped his stance and put his hand to his lip.

"What the fuck Diego?!"

"I could say the same you. What the fuck did you practically strangle that beta for? What if she'd gone to the press? And what about our key important fact, Maxim, of NOT ABUSING WOMEN?!"

Diego was breathing heavily, his fists clenching and unclenching in rage. He was almost the same height as Max, with the same stocky build that spoke of hours in a gym, but there the similarities ended, where max was fair and blonde, Diego was as dark and black haired.

"Diego. Let me explain. I lost my temper I know this, but she insulted me and my soon to be omega. She called me a useless alpha who could not care for an omega." Max shrugged helplessly. "I lost my temper and shouldn't have done, but I told her to leave several times. It will not happen again. Besides, Jessica had already signed a non-disclosure statement. Our company is safe."

Diego relaxed slightly, his fists unclenching.

"You still should know better than to lose it...even if she did insult you in such a manner. But I swear if you touch a woman in such a manner again, I'll kill you myself. You should know better after what we've been through. I take it from your "soon to be" statement that you finally have a solid lead then?"

"Yes, I have. I'm leaving town to track her down now. I need to get some answers out of our contact." Max stride passed him to the waiting 4x4, opening the door and sliding inside.

Diego settled in next to him, slamming the door with more force than was needed, but was visibly calming down. "You're coming with me then?"

"Where? Do we need the other team on standby? How much do we know?"

Max smiled, Diego's use of "we" never failed to remind him of the bond they shared.

"Yes, if you could alert them when we arrive that would be of great help. And east, to the mountains. It appears my little one likes the mountain towns."

Diego nodded his agreement, fingers already moving over the keyboard of his phone.

Max relaxed into his seat. The noise was tightening around Lana, and she had no clue it was already round her neck.

They'd driven for 4 hours and were now at a petrol station in a superstores carpark. Max got out, cracking his back. He turned around to Diego, noticing his breath in the evening air.

"I'm going in to get supplies" he stated bluntly.

Diego's eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Of both kinds. Did you want anything?"

"Chicken. And a tool kit. My last one got..."

Diego paused, trying to find the right words to described how his favourite screw driver was currently embedded in the kneecap of an unfortunate business partner, and even more unfortunately could not be removed.

"Lost?" Max grinned, a wicked smile that flashed his sharp canines and caused a responding grin to break across Diego's face.

"I'll get you a new fancy set, I do know how much you love your DIY".

This caused Diego to chuckle, and reply "my perfect alpha, however will I let you go to an omega? Who else will bring me such kind and thoughtful gifts."

Max snorted and turned around, walking across the carpark.

He still had a grin on his face when he picked up a screw driver set and turned about, colliding with a body. He heard an "oof" of air, a thud of a body hitting the floor and a metallic tinkling as a can bounced off the ground.

He glanced down and saw a blonde-haired woman on the floor, a can of WD40 rolling away from the dropped basket. He chased down the can and hunkered down next to the woman, who was muttering under her breath about brick walls on legs having reversing lights.

He sighed remembering what Diego had said to him earlier about women and not hurting them, thinking that he might as well start trying to be nicer now. It might be useful to get some practice talking to women before he had a mate.

"Here. Are you ok?"


	5. Chapter 5

Lana sat on the floor of the superstore and cursed her luck. And she cursed the stupid man who was more like a brick wall on legs than a person. She felt like she'd been clipped by a truck - it would have been useful if the brick wall had reversing lights like a truck would.

It would save the normal non-abnormally large folk like her from being run over.

It had been a week since she would have been due her heat had her grandmother not brought her more pills. She'd been going crazy being hidden in the cabin and had decided it was safe to leave, as the suppressors were working. She'd come to the store to get rid of the irritating squeaking her door had suddenly started making since her self-imposed heat prevention lock in. She also wanted to stock up on nachos as she'd had a hunkering to make them all week, but of course she hadn't had the ingredients in the house.

So here she was, on her rapidly bruising arse in the middle of the store.

She froze as the low gravelly voice spoke to her from the hulking man bending next to her.

"Here, are you ok?"

Shit. He was an alpha. Shit shit shit shit. She'd spent years avoiding them, and now she'd walked right into one. Her palms instantly went sweaty as she reached for the proffered can.

"Fine. Thanks"

She stood up and his hand was there to help her up, the warmth of his palm radiating up her arm.

She flinched away from the touch, unused to anyone touching her apart from her grandmother. She peeked through her fringe and saw his eyebrows come down in a frown, and he released her arm.

"Are you sure you're okay? You came down pretty hard - is your arm okay? Is there someone here who can help you?"

He looked at her quizzically, eyes roaming her body and then looking away as if for her companions.

She glanced at him again and her stomach dropped. He had specks of blood on his shirt collar. Worse, his eyes were the exact same ones she'd been thinking about for the last 8 years. Blue green eyes caught her own and, in his gaze, there was curiosity and a dawning recognition.

"Thank you for the concern, but really am fine and I need to get going."

She grabbed her basket and tried to step round him, but he made no move to get out of her way. She was forced to brush against his body, which made her sweat even more, the fear making her nauseous, her hyper sensitive body tingling in contact with his heavily muscled chest. She wanted out of there. The blood on his collar and his eyes had taken her back to one of her worst memories. Lana sucked in a shaky breath. She wanted back in her nest where no Alpha would ever find her.

She stumbled, she had thought about her nest. She never did that unless she was either close to heat or truly terrified. He was there immediately wrapping an arm round her chest to prevent her from falling.

"Woah there, are you sure you're okay?"

She could smell him, a delicious scent that reminded her of the forest after rain and of something that was entirely man. She shivered...and felt him sniffing the top of her head. She tensed up and broke out of his grip.

"Leave me alone you creep!" She had learnt her lesson. She didn't look back but instead hurried away down the aisles, willing herself to walk and not sprint. She grabbed a multi bag of crisps, a litre bottle of water and a can of deodorant and paid.

She exited the shop and immediately sprayed herself before throwing the can in a nearby bin.

Lana was back in survival mode. Her lack of a normal beta scent might tip the Alpha at the store off, and she was risking nothing by him following her with his nose by her normal perfume mixed with the slightly off beta smell she was sure her sweat was releasing. She bent down as if to tie her shoelace and looked round carefully, just as her Grandpa had taught her. There was nothing out of the ordinary, no Alphas on the look out that she could see, no sleek cars designed for chasing down and capture. She breathed out a shaky sigh, grabbed the bag by her feet and stood, moving across the gradually emptying carpark.

She threw her items into the back seat of her car, and drove off carefully, normally and as if she was ordinary like any of the other shoppers. She knew she had to switch number plates as soon as possible and go off road. She couldn't risk them finding her or worse, her grandmother.

3 hours later her plates were changed, and Lana was back in her car, a heat suppressant pill between her lips as she reached behind her to grab the water she'd bought at the store. It had taken over an hour for the shakes to stop. It was another hour before she was sure she hadn't been followed. Lana took a sip of water and swallowed the bitter tasting pill. She was exhausted. As she sipped on the water she berated herself for being so stupid. She should have been looking where she was going instead of humming along to the tune in the store, imagining herself tucking into the cheesy nachos she was going to make herself when she got home. She mournfully looked back at her bag of groceries. There was no way she'd be able to melt the cheese out here. But at least she could still salvage the salsa, sour cream and guac.

As she spread out the dips on her dashboard, she thought back about the alpha. Had he been the teenager in the bloodied shirt who had chased her all those years ago?

She shook her head, snorting at herself. Of course, he hadn't. It was just the blood on his shirt and the fact that his eyes had been remarkably similar that had thrown her. That and she'd never been so close to an Alpha that big before. She'd never really touched anyone apart from her family before. She thought back, licking the remnants of a blob of cream off of her fingers.

The last time she had touched a stranger in that way was when her grandparents had taken her for ice cream when she was 16 and she'd had to push past a jostling crowd in order to make her order heard.

That was probably why her body was still humming slightly from the strange handsome Alphas touch. She froze at that thought, finger still in her mouth. When had the strange, DANGEROUS alpha suddenly become handsome. She'd never really thought of anyone that way.

A cold feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. What if the heat suppressors her grandma had bought were weaker than the old type she'd had. She side eyed the little plastic baggie that was on the seat next to her. They sat there innocently, their off-white colour making them seem almost yellow in the evening gloom.

They tasted the same, smelled the same and looked the same.

She shook her head. Her imagination was running away with her, as it always did when she was alone. She looked outside at the wilderness.

She'd been to this spot before when she'd been looking for a place 2 years ago to have her heat den. Her grandfather had taken her here and helped to set it up for her, as a just in case hidey-hole. 20 minutes' drive away there was a place set up to hide her car, along with a bundle of cash and petrol tanks. Close to that was the first of the booby traps she had set up where the first motion sensor was placed. Another hours walk, her and her grandfather had made sure there was no way in by vehicle, and there was an underground tunnel which led to a small cottage that was built into the mountain itself.

This, her grandfather explained, was where his brother had resided until his death. He had preferred to live in solitude, after having lost his boyfriend in the first of the violent clashes of the before time. She sighed, thinking about poor Ralph. She too had been cruelly treated by society, but she still couldn't imagine living alone for so many years, nothing but the howling wind for company.

She shivered, wondering again if it was the best idea to of driven off road into the forest at night.

Then she remembered the interest the Alpha had taken in her earlier, and decided that it was, far better than being questioned or touched by the beast of a man who stood a head and a half taller than her 5ft7 frame. Tomorrow she would go to one of her check points and leave a note for her grandma to prepare to move. A twinge of guilt formed in her stomach. If it wasn't for her love of Nachos and careless behaviour her grandmother wouldn't have to be uprooting her whole life again. But Lana could not risk discovery, and if her heat suppressants weren't acting in the same way as they had before, she couldn't risk going into heat at their current home. It was too close to the main highway.

She pulled the blanket out from the glove box and wrapped herself up, leaning her seat back as far as it would go.

Lana's last thought before slipping off to sleep was it was better to be cold than have to deal with the strange tingling warmth the Alpha had made her feel.


	6. Chapter 6

Hi Readers! I've just gone over previous chapters and edited them a little so hopefully they read a little better than before!Hope you enjoy chapter 6!

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Max arrived back at the car frowning. The run in with the blonde had thrown him off. He never normally cared about other people, but there was something about thinking the woman had been hurt made his blood boil and a protective instinct he didn't know he'd had come to the surface.

He shook his head. The lack of sleep and stress was obviously catching up to him.

And yet...he stared down at the deli counter, it's display of meats and pies holding little appeal anymore. He couldn't shake the feeling that he should be following the blonde woman out and checking on her, running his hands down her body for evidence of injury, licking the bead of sweat that had trickled between her breasts, purring to calm the erratic heartbeat he could see pounding in her neck. Max froze from reaching down to pick up Diego's chicken.

Purring? What the fuck. He'd never had the urge to purr for anyone. Alphas only purred for family, mates, omegas in heat and, on rare occasions, to soothe injured or frightened children of all dynamics.

Max grabbed the chicken, paid and stomped outside, welcoming the chill breeze that rolled in from the mountains close by. His eyebrows drew together in a frown. The only person he had ever imagined purring for was his runaway Omega. Not even during his testing years had he thought about purring for any of his younger fellow test subjects. Rebecca's words flashed up in his memory; maybe something had broken in him when he'd been tested, maybe his sense of smell was off. It could explain why the blonde beta woman smelled slightly off and that his Lana smelled so delicious to him.

Diego stood up from leaning against the side of the car when he saw Max striding towards him. An eyebrow quirked as he took in Max's frown, the normal sleek stride that had stiffened up with underlying tension.

"So?"

"So, what?" Max growled. Diego's left eyebrow raised to join its companion on the right.

"so, what has you so tense? Doesn't happen to have anything to do with terrifying a girl half to death making her come walking out of the store, blasting on enough deodorant to cause a hole in the ozone layer in order to hide her scent and then trying to act casual bending down and tying her shoe as she checked out the entire place looking for follows?"

This time it was Max's eyebrow, and the corner of his mouth, that twitched up. Diego was an observant son of a bitch, but the fact that had caught his attention was the deodorant part.

"A whole can of deodorant? Interesting…"

Diego grabbed his food out of Max's hands and got back into the car. He was already finished eating by the time Max had put the rest of the items in the boot and slid in next to him. Diego, like Max, ate fast and made sure he ate as often as he could. Too many years of a controlled diet did that to a person. He passed Diego a bottle of water and cleared his throat.

"I knocked into her shopping. I decided to heed your words and attempt to help. She didn't smell quite right. She was twitchy..." Max smiled. "She also yelled at me to leave her alone. Can you imagine? Being rude to a Strange Alpha. Beta's are getting so ballsy these days."

"Where too next Sir?" The driver asked, interrupting his line of thought. He looked at Diego. He'd forgotten to even check his phone to see if his contact had given him an updated location. Diego however, clearly hadn't.

"Further up into the mountains. There's an old logging warehouse there where we'll be having a meeting. Its off the beaten path so off roading is required. It may take most of the night." Diego tapped his phone without looking up. "I've sent the coordinates now. The GPS will lead there. We have business to attend to. Do you have any further requirements?"

The car was quiet for a moment whilst the driver studied the map. "No Sir. I'll let you know when we arrive."

"Good." Diego tapped another button and the privacy screen closed them off from the driver. Diego continued tapping on his phone but aimed a sideways glance at Max. Max knew the exact meaning of that look. He was off target massively. The encounter with the girl in the store had shaken him, and they couldn't afford distractions from their goal.

"You're right Max. The deodorant part is interesting. What about her scent was off? Why would you try to cover up a scent trail from a stranger with no interest in you?" Diego's eyes slid back to his phone, but Max could tell he wasn't really looking at it as his fingers had stopped typing. Max's brain stopped thinking about how nice it would be to wrap his fist round the strange smelling beta's hair, stopped thinking about how soft the blonde strands looked and instead started piecing together what Diego was trying to hint at.

"You can't possibly mean… but her smell...?" Max's fists tightened. "you think that woman was an omega, don't you?".

"Yes, I do" Diego said bluntly and passed his phone over. "This is one of the reports of heat suppressant side effects. Under most test conditions the scent of an omega changed to that of a normal beta. But in some of the more…" Diego struggled to find the word, his nose wrinkling in disgust "extreme testing cases scents were found to change when an omega was deathly afraid or panicky to something less than beta."

Max understood the look of disgust, they both knew first hand just how extreme the testing could get. "So, you think Blondie back there is an omega. And an omega in this location would be having to get the heat suppressants from our dealer. That explains her behaviour. She was probably running from some alpha." Max leaned forward onto his knees. "You don't think that my omega and this possible omega know each other? What if the reason the old woman bought such a large quantity was to give to several omegas?"

"I don't know. But we can ask our contact when we arrive. One way or another we'll get the answers we need Max. Especially as our contact has brought another dealer in the area in." Max finished reading the report and passed the phone back. He leaned back in his seat, the vibrations of the car soothing the tension from his shoulders despite the uncomfortable niggling in the back of his head that he'd missed something important. Max breathed out and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the feeling. He knew well that they would get their answers. Even if their methods were reduced to Diego's new tools being used.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Lana woke up with the dawn. She was stiff and cold after a night in the car, and desperate for the bathroom. Cracking her neck she begrudgingly moved the blanket off of her and threw it into the back seat. This was going to be cold.

She reached into the glove box and grabbed hand gel and the toilet roll that was always stored there. Bracing herself she opened the door and found it had iced over in the night. "Fuck. Fuck fuck FUCK". On the final fuck her frantic pushing forced the door open, her breath immediately fogging in contact with the cold air. Nearly falling out the car she hurried over to a nearby tree and hastily undid her jeans.

"Brace for impact crew" she muttered to herself and pulled down her jeans. The cold air hit her bare skin and she squealed. She hastily thought of waterfalls, sinks overflowing and dripping taps in order to make herself ignore the cold and pee faster. She started walking back to her car before she bothered buttoning the jeans, frost crunching under her boots, desperate for the relative warmth of her car.

Pulling open her door she slid into the seat, shivering. With now numb hands she opened the glove box she put the hand gel and loo roll back and closed it. She needed to get to the check in spot in order to let her grandma know she needed to prepare to leave. Her hand twitched with indecision. She was close to the house; she could go and clear out the tunnel to ease her grandmother's arrival and turn on the old generator or she could go to the check point first.

Both had their risks. She chewed her lip thoughtfully, weighing up her options. If she went to the house first that meant she would have to go to that location twice in a short space of time; it meant disturbing her cars hiding place and possibly risking revealing its location. But it did mean that her grandma wouldn't have to worry about anything but getting safely to the house and settling in, her way easier through the passageway with a warm room waiting for her at the end. The image of her grandma having to make her way through the frigid forest and sweeping cobwebs out of the way, coughing on the musty air in the passage and leaning against the dirty wall filled Lana's mind. She tasted blood. She'd bitten down too hard at the thought of her grandma suffering in such a way. No she thought. The risk may be higher but the pay off was worth it if it ensured the comfort of the old lady. She reached and got the half empty bottle of water to her lips, trying to wash the coppery taste of her blood from her mouth.

Swirling it around before swallowing, she dabbed her lip with the back of her hand. A small speck of blood marked the skin of her knuckles. Lana sighed, just what she wanted when she'd be working in the cold: a healing scab that would most likely crack further in the frosty air. She turned on the engine on before putting on her seatbelt, petting the dashboard softly as if it were an old trusty dog when the engine spluttered at the cold. "Same Sal, same. Just a few more trips then you'll be covered up under a nice warm tarp for a while, how does that sound?". Her cars engine stopped making its groaning disagreements and Lana smiled at the timing, fancying that the car really did like the idea of having a rest. She put the car in reverse and turned around in the small clearing, heading back down the way she had come towards the abandoned logging trail. She knew she needed to head to a small warehouse that used to belong to one of the old logging companies that had been commandeered by her grandfather and his brother for use. Whilst the tunnel to Ralphs house was well built, she didn't want to risk arriving to find a collapse and then have to again leave the spot. As her Grandfather said, it was better to be well prepared and late in this life, than ill prepared and early in the next.

The journey down to the warehouse should of taken about half an hour, but it took Lana slightly longer as she'd got distracted in her own thoughts and missed the turning. She parked as close as she could to the old building, noting that it hadn't appeared to be disturbed in the years since she'd last been there, except by nature itself. She flipped the latch to open the boot of her car before stepping out into the still chilly air. Breathing in she took a deep steadying breath, willing the images of the past to not distract her from the task at hand. She walked to the door and lifted up the heavy latch, the rusty metal digging into already cold fingertips. It shifted a little then shuddered to a stop. Lana groaned in frustration and jiggled it furiously. The metal scraped against itself making a screeching moan of protest but moved a little more and stopped again. "You bastard I do NOT have time for this!" she grasped the latch in both hands and pulled with all her strength. Another grating sound and she stumbled backwards as the latch opened and the door swung towards her. "Ha! Victory!" Lana grinned. It felt nice having something go her way, even if it was just a power struggle with an inanimate object.

Walking inside she was greeted with slightly stale air which had that old musty smell that old wooden structures often had. Slivers of light streaked across the floor from the gaps in the wooden walls, highlighting the dust motes that her movement had caused to dance through the previously still air. She stood in the centre of the room for a moment, head tilted up looking at the rafters with its abandoned chains where some form of pully system had once hung. She closed her eyes, squeezing them tightly shut, before opening them and walking to the left towards a small half walled off area, touching one of the hanging chains absent mindedly as she passed its hanging length. She vaguely remembered her Grandfather explaining what it for was all those years ago and wished she'd paid better attention to him. Entering the smaller storage area she spotted what she was looking for.

A thin layer of dust had formed over the tarp in the centre of the room. It was unobtrusive, identical to the other dust covered tarps covering abandoned equipment around the room. Unlike the other tarps only this one had the tools she needed. Pulling it off with a flourish Lana revealed 2 wooden crates underneath, the dust rising through the air like an insubstantial wall. She placed the tarp on top of one of the other odd covered shapes in the room and bent down to lift up one of the boxes. She didn't need to open it just yet, there was no point checking inside. She already knew it contained everything she'd need to make the tunnel safe if it was needed, including small pit props and shoring materials. It was a large box and heavy, and Lana suddenly felt very small, very alone and the closest she'd felt to powerless since the day her Grandfather was killed. It was going to take all her strength to move the crates and then shore up any tunnel damages. She breathed in a shuddering breath, willing back the tears that pricked in her eyes, and regretted it immediately. The dust she had disturbed made her cough, the tears she had tried to hold now streaming down her face as she struggled to breathe. Lana fell over from her crouch onto her ass on the dusty floor next to the crate and struggled to get her breathing back under control.

Wiping her eyes she pushed herself up, cursing at her stupidity of forgetting how much dust she'd disturbed. Arms stretched wide she held both corners of the crate, the feeling of the wood indenting into her skin taking her mind off of her still uneven breathing. Lana struggled to her feet, shoulders burning under the weight of the crate and stumbled to the car thanking her foresight of leaving the boot open. The crate landed with a dull thunk and she apologised to her car "Sorry Sal, didn't mean to drop it, its just bloody heavy!". Straightening up Lana sighed. One more crate to go. She walked back inside quickly, wanting to get the move done quickly before letting her muscles rest. As she bent down to pick up the next crate a drop of blood fell onto the floor in front of her, soaking into the dust covered ground. She licked her lip and the copper tang hit her tongue for the second time that day. As she'd predicted the bite from earlier had reopened from the strain of first the accidental coughing fit and then lifting the first crate. She rolled her eyes and picked up the second crate, sucking her lower lip into her mouth to prevent any more blood from falling.

This time Lana managed to not drop the crate into the boot of her car with as much force as the first. Standing straight she stretched her back out, feeling her muscles twinge at the movement. "Note to self, don't sleep in car and then move heavy items around. It will result in ouchies and a longing for a hot bubble bath" she groaned at her own words as the stepped into the warehouse one last time, past the still gently swaying chains in order to retrieve the abandoned tarp. "Oh Lana you temptress, why would you think of a bath when you're here and don't even know if the house has a bath tub?" she angrily snatched the tarp, dust from where it had rested again swirling in the meagre rays of sunlight. She turned round half way back to her car to give the smaller room a once over. Thankfully the dust layer on the tarps hadn't been so thick on the floor and therefore showed no sign of the two crates having originally been there, nor was there any indication of her being there either – no footprints left in the dust. She hurried out, closing the rusty metal latch on the door. As it squeaked Lana responded "Goodbye to you too". As she sat in her car Lana then thought to herself that she really needed to stop talking aloud to inanimate objects. Lana snorted at how ridiculous her musings would seem if anybody was around to hear her and smiled to herself as she drove off, thinking how her Grandma would chuckle to herself if she could see and hear her. Lana made her way back up the dirt track towards the main road and put on the radio. Soon she'd be able to see her Grandmother smile again, and the quicker she dealt with the tunnel and house, the sooner they would be reunited.


End file.
